1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a technology for injecting an object into the cell with a needle. The present invention specifically relates to determining an operation start position of the needle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A study of an alteration of genetic information of a cell by running a microscopic needle into the cell and injecting a gene (microinjection), using a microscope clarifies a role of the gene and permits a tailor-made medicine of conducting gene treatment in accordance with individual genetic characteristics. Such study has made it possible to cure illness attributable to genetic causes that have heretofore been incurable.
The methods for injecting a gene into the cell can be, e.g., an electric method (electroporation), a chemical method (lipofection), a biological method (vector method), a mechanical method (microinjection), etc.
Among those methods, the electrical method includes breaking a cell membrane by running a large current, giving a big damage to the cell. The chemical method is limited in the number of genes to be introduced and is poor in respect of introduction efficiency. The biological method has the defects such as that it there is a limitation on the number of materials to be introduced and that safety of this method cannot be confirmed.
As a result, at present, in many cases, the mechanical method is employed as the safest and the most efficient method. For example, Japanese Patent No. 2624719 discloses a technology regarding the microinjection apparatus that arranges cells in regular order and automatically performs the microinjection.
However, in the conventional technology, while an adjustment must be made of the position of the needle for the injection into the cell as an object with accuracy of ±1 μm, this adjustment must be made manually by an experienced worker. Moreover, the length of the needle can have an error of the order of ±2 mm, and to take the error into account, the adjustment of the needle position becomes essential. Therefore, each time a needle is changed, adjustment of the position of the needle must be conducted manually by an experienced worker, forcing an increase in working hour and workload.
Thus, there is a need of a technology that permits easy and efficient adjustment of position of the needle.